Many of us start the day by commuting¹, or traveling, to work. We drop off our children at school. We may visit the doctor or go to the market to buy food. We rush home to see our families.

我们中的许多人每天上下班、或者旅游、去工作。我们将孩子送到学校。我们可能会去看医生或去市场买食物。我们又或许匆忙回家看望家人。

Not all traffic is the same. There are some terms you need to know when talking about traffic.

并不是所有的交通情况都是一样的。谈及交通情况有一些术语你需要知道。

One such term is gridlock. Gridlock is when nobody can go anywhere. A traffic jam so bad that no movement is possible.The roads become one big parking lot.

交通瘫痪——是指所有人都动弹不得。交通拥堵非常糟糕，没有任何移动的可能。整个道路成为一个停车场。

There is also stop-and-start traffic. This is when you move forward a little, but then stop. Move a little. Then stop.

也有走走停停的交通情况，向前走了几步后，然后停了。往前再走一点，然后又停了。

Traffic can be bumper-to-bumper. This means there are so many cars on the road that their bumpers² seem to be touching. To idle³ means the engine of your car is running, but you are not moving .

也可能是一辆接一辆的。这意味着如此多的车在路上以至于看上去汽车的保险杠都像是碰到了一起。停顿意味着你的引擎是运转着，但是你却一动未动。

Another term to know is rush hour traffic. Rush hour traffic happens at about the same time every day – when people are commuting to and from work.

另一种交通情况则是上下班高峰时间。每天交通拥堵高峰基本都发生在同一时段-上下班的时候。